I may be from Queanbeyan, a small town in New South Wales, but I'm as proud as anyone of our grand prix in neighbouring Victoria. There's no better place to start the season than Melbourne. And this is not the biased view of an Aussie. I would be embarrassed if my fellow competitors didn't like this race but, whatever capacity they are working in, people find it hard to fault this grand prix.

It's a good event from start to finish. There is no other F1 track with such easy access, as the trams deliver fans from the city centre to the circuit gates. The organisers leave no stone unturned to make sure people are looked after; Albert Park is probably the only F1 circuit with a McDonald's inside the track!

Melburnians will get behind any event - even if it is two worms racing down the pavement, they will watch it and love it. The grand prix is well organised and the track makes good viewing. It's also a tough one with plenty of challenges.

Because we are racing in a public park, the roads have a crown in the middle to help deal with the drainage. That may not sound like a huge deal to the average motorist but, when you go from one side of the road to the other in F1, in a car that sits very low, there is the risk of grounding as you cross the crown. That's not nice at over 100mph. It makes life even more difficult when you are trying to be pin-sharp when turning in to a corner.

Albert Park has a good mix but the fast section at the back of the circuit really gets your attention. There is a particular left-right chicane that is approached at 180mph and the point you need to aim at is a little piece of kerb. Bear in mind that the driver is sitting with his backside about five centimetres from the ground and yet you need to turn in to the corner at exactly the right spot. If you get it wrong then, at best, you will go over the middle of the chicane and your lap will be ruined because this corner governs your speed through the remainder of the section. At worst, there's a wall waiting on the way out.

We are in the business of trying to make each corner as straight as possible. There's no point in approaching the left-hander on the left side of the track, which is why we will be almost rubbing the wall on the right during the 180mph approach. Braking has to be precise - not too early, not too late, not so heavy that the car becomes unsettled - and, even then, you are whistling through the left and then the right in fourth or fifth gear at 125mph.

We have power steering and you need it, because there is a huge amount of aerodynamic downforce pushing on the car at that speed and the steering becomes very heavy. Thanks to the steering on F1 cars being very high geared - it would take about a 20-point turn to go through 180 degrees in your average high street - the steering is razor sharp when we turn in at high speed, just the merest movement of the wheel being necessary. If you were to drive my Red Bull RB3 for the first time, it's a fair bet that you would put too much lock on the steering and end up heading towards the inside kerb of the first quick corner you came to.

We have 16 corners to deal with on each of the 58 laps during next Sunday's race. I can't wait to get started. Walking into that grass paddock in Melbourne for the first time is a great buzz. The next best thing is climbing into the car and the monitor showing lap times is lowered in front of the cockpit. It's a sign that business is under way and that really gets the juices going. Testing during the winter is all very well, but it's the raw nature of the race weekend that really makes the difference. You have to deliver. That's what it's all about.